


Five Times Cherri Cola Smiled at a Star, and One Time the Star Smiled at Him

by areyoukobrakiddingme



Series: Amethyst [2]
Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Short Chapters, like really short
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 12:52:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9072508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyoukobrakiddingme/pseuds/areyoukobrakiddingme
Summary: Cherri receives a mysterious jar of paper stars from Kobra Kid with the instructions to unravel them whenever he is feeling down. What could be inside?





	1. Happy Birthday

“Happy birthday, Cherri!” Kobra leaned in and kissed Cherri on the cheek. “I have something for you.” Cherri looked up from his writing and smiled at Kobra.

“You remembered,” he said, leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms. “You didn't have to get me anything though.” 

“Well I wanted to,” Kobra laughed. He sat on the desk and held out a smallish object wrapped in newspaper. “Here.” 

“Ooh what's this?” Cherri took the gift and examined it. “Hmm… well it's too hard to be socks.” He shook it lightly. “It's not new pencils…”

“Just open it!” Kobra said. He laughed and bumped his fist on Cherri's arm. Cherri grinned.

“Okay, okay.” He carefully unwrapped the gift, making sure to save the paper. Underneath the paper was a mason jar filled with tiny paper stars of all kinds of colors and patterns. There was a little glitter mixed in too. “Oh wow! Kobra, did you make these?” Kobra puffed his chest.

“Every single one,” he said proudly. “Although, Pony threw the glitter in there when I wasn't looking.” He took the jar from Cherri and held it up. “They're special stars,” he explained. “Whenever you're feeling down, you take one out and unwrap it.”

“What happens when I unwrap one?” Cherri asked, leaning forward onto the desk.

“That's a secret,” Kobra winked. He put the jar on the desk, gave Cherri a quick kiss, and hopped off the desk. “I have to go now, but I'll see you later, okay?”

“Okay.” They said their goodbyes, and Kobra left Cherri alone with the jar of mysterious paper stars.


	2. Gesundheit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are all going to be super short. I would have posted it all in one or two chapters instead of splitting up each one, but I wanted to get them out as I got them done.

The first time Cherri unwrapped a star was two weeks later. 

He had come down with a cold and was absolutely miserable. He was curled up in his bed, a several dirty handkerchiefs on the floor nearby. He felt like his chest was on fire, and although he was covered in sweat, he was shivering under three blankets. There had been a pounding feeling in his head for hours.

All Cherri wanted to do was sleep, yet sleep was eluding him. Throughout the day, his friends had visited him, bringing him soup, books, and distractions, but he'd been alone for a while now, not even listening to the radio. The sounds were too harsh for his headache.

After settling down from a rough coughing fit, he ran his hands through his hair and groaned. If only Tommy would get a shipment of cold medicine. He reached behind his head blindly searching for one of the hard candies that Kobra and Ghoul had dropped off earlier, but his hand made contact with cool glass, accidentally knocking something to the floor. He rolled over and saw that it was Kobra’s jar of stars.

“Huh.” Cherri reached for the jar and popped the lid off. “I guess this is a good time to find out what's in these stars.” He wiped his nose on his sleeve and then reached into the jar, pulling out a blue star. He unrolled it to find a message written inside and laughed.

“Did you hear about the snake’s love letter? He sealed it with a hiss.”


	3. Panic

The second time Cherri unwrapped a star was during a long day working at Tom’s store.

The day had been filled with difficult customers due to a price raise on several items. Cherri was at the end of his rope. He had been berated and pestered and threatened and he was exhausted.

He was taking a break outside when a mousy looking woman walked up to him.

“Can you show me where the dried fruit is?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Cherri answered. He sighed. It figured that his break wouldn't last long without being interrupted. He led the woman back into the store to a shelf in the back lined with cans and bags of food. The woman grabbed two bags of dried fruit and followed Cherri to the register.

“That’ll be… six carbons,” he said after checking what she was holding. Her eyes went wide.

“Six carbons?” she shrieked. “Last week this much was three carbons! What kind of shit are you trying to pull here?”

“Ma’am, I'm sorry but-”

“That costs six carbons?” a man standing nearby cut in. “What's next, are you gonna start charging that for entrance to the shop?”

“No, it's just that-” Cherri tried to respond.

“You are that damned Chow Mein are stealing from us!” a third customer yelled. The next thing Cherri knew there were six people standing around the counter yelling about price increases.

“I demand a lower price!”

“I refuse to pay that!”

“Last week it was cigs, now it's food, what's next man? You trying to rip us of?”

Cherri was overwhelmed. He couldn't keep up with the yelling. He tried to follow each voice, but the volume was just increasing as the voices all blurred together and mixed with sound from the radio.

“Please calm down,” he tried to calm the chaos. “Please just-”

Suddenly there was a loud crash as one of the customers made a sweeping motion with their arm and accidentally knocked a jar onto the floor, shattering it. Everyone continued yelling, and Cherri could feel his chest constrict as a panic feeling shot through him.

“Cola! Get this under control!” Tom poked his head in from the other room to yell.

That was it. Suddenly Cherri couldn't breathe. The sounds around him all became one loud buzz. He turned to get away from the crowd harassing him but tripped on the corner of the counter. 

“Shit,” he said under his breath. He pushed himself off the floor and ran out the front door. He couldn't breathe. He stumbled again running out. He made it to his car and collapsed onto his hands and knees into the sand next to it. He clutched his chest and tried to catch his breath. “Shitshitshitshit.”

He hadn't had a panic attack this bad in over a year.

His arms wobbled and collapsed beneath him, and he rolled onto his back.

“Shit...I-I need to...to calm down,” he gasped. He turned his head to look at his surroundings.

_Car, cloud, flags, shop, sun_

_Customers chattering, Dr. D on the radio, car pulling up to the store, Tom trying to calm the customers_

_Hot sand, the weight of his dog tags, heat from the sun_

_Gasoline, cheap cigarette smoke_

_The saltiness of sweat_

He closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath.

“Okay,” Cherri assured himself. “Okay.” After a few minutes of lying in the sand next to his car, he slowly pushed himself up. He pulled a bandana from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. “Shit. That was bad.” As he walked past the car, he remembered Kobra’s jar of stars. He had put it in the glove box just in case. He smiled a little and opened the door of the car. He slid into the passenger seat, opened the glove box, and pulled out the jar. This time he grabbed a bright pink one, glitter sticking to his fingers, and he unraveled it with unsteady fingers, tearing up at what was written inside.

“I love the way your voice gets and how your eyes light up when you tell me about things you're passionate about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The list while Cherri is trying to calm down is actually a trick for calming down from anxiety or panic attacks. You identify five things you can see, four things you can hear, three you can feel, two you can smell, and one you can taste.


End file.
